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With its 13th century origins and focus on the processing of majolica (glazed ceramic), this provincial trade benefitted from two major opportunities for development, chief of these being the 1406 conquest of Pisa.Florentine merchants could now enjoy maritime access and also see their ceramicists – particularly those based in the Montelupo region – begin competing for market share with the leading Spanish ceramic producers of the era.
As far as the quality of ceramic goods produced was concerned, this new access and the increased completion it brought had the very welcome effect – to consumers, at least – of ushering in a general boost in production quality across the board.
The twin competencies of fine craftsmanship techniques and production capacity played a substantial role in 15th-century Florence and, as a result, went a long way towards helping attract prestigious commissions.
A long list of noble Florentine clients such as the Medici, Strozzi, Machiavelli, Canigiani, Frescobaldi and Pucci families placed orders with local furnaces or, on occasion, received Montelupo-crafted majolica as gifts.
In fact, many of the more noteworthy Renaissance designs were conceived and crafted during the 1450s.
Montelupo-branded majolica enjoyed an enviable status and its producers were able to fully exploit this.
It exerted this dominance in all the key markets worldwide, whether they were found along the Mediterranean basin (e.g., Greece, Egypt, Morocco, Spain and France) or dotted along the Atlantic mercantile routes (southern England, Holland). This sometimes stretched well beyond Europe to islands such as Cuba and American states such as Virginia.
The 1600s, however, witnessed a slow easing of the global appetite for these high-end goods. Only centuries later in 1911 did the ceramic industry begin to enjoy something of a resurgence.
Still today, Montelupo-made ceramics continue to enjoy a distinct appeal and this is reflected in the region’s community, culture, tourism and, of course, its economy.

http://www.stradaceramica.it/storia-montelupo-fiorentino/

Records show that in 1500, the highest quality terracotta production “…took place in the town of Samminiatello”.
Even as recently as the 1970s, at which point most kilns were shifted over to Florence’s Montelupo area, Samminiatello factories (in this case, merely a case of families forming a working unit) produced laundry basins, oil pitchers, roofing and inner tubes for pipes, which at the time were enamelled on the inside.
The furnaces were originally located along the Arno river, as this had been, for many centuries prior, a reliable source of raw material: clay was collected via a virtual “shelf” system whereby in winter, during the floods, the earth would go on to settle.
In order to allow the small industry to carry on, following the inauguration of the Florence-Pisa railway line in 1848, along the railway line (where the kilns had originally been located), a series of access passages were either left or created for artisans who were accustomed to collecting clay in this way. They would then take the clay to their factories, where it would be kneaded traditionally, using only their feet.
The river was also an important route for transporting the goods produced by the region’s kilns: these were delivered to Florence, Pontedera, Pisa and Livorno using rather large boats. Other nearby towns, such as nearby Lucca, were accessed by cart.
At the furnaces, moulded clay products were put to dry under the lodges for a certain amount of time before being baked in the oven. Twigs from the Montalbano and dell’Antinoro forests were pruned, dried and put together in bundles in order to feed the fires.
Employing such a system, baking large items such as bricks and roof tiles, could take up to an entire week.
Nowadays in the industrial areas around Montelupo, terracotta is baked using far more modern methods and machinery, however, numerous members of the Unione delle Fornaci (Kiln Union), during the Terracotta Festival in Samminiatello, the Ceramics Festival in Montelupo and at many other events, carry on the tradition of shaping clay ‘by hand’ as it was done in the distant past.

http://www.terrecottemontelupo.com